notamermaid

That was the good news. The not so good news is that there has been so much rain for the High Rhine area and East of there that Lake Constance has made a "jump" to 498cm. It may get to 500cm again soon. Lake Constance never left flood vigilance, now Hauenstein is back there and as I mentioned before so is Maxau. The high level of the Rhine will be with us for a while it seems. It necessitates adjusted sailing which can lead to a bit of delay on an itinerary. Not a big deal but the notion of a river traffic ban being possible is not going away which is really unusual for this time of year. notamermaid

It is not often that I see a major change in the forecast for the next 24 hours. This time I have done. Maxau gauge is at 659cm and only forecast to rise to about 670cm, the 700cm have been pushed to tomorrow and now have a high uncertainty. notamermaid

I do not know what it is with locks at the moment - there has been another accident. At Bad Abbach a "Schubverband", that is a push boat with a lighter normally, hit a wall at the railway bridge yesterday. A technical fault coupled with the current caused the vessel to drift. The Danube had to be closed to traffic for about eight hours and resumed around 4am this morning. Without saying too much: this Schubverband thing together with the thumbnail photo give the impression this was not a standard cargo... Pity that more info can only be had with advertising or getting behind the paywall. Another report talks of an accident on 19 June with a photo of a Viking river cruise ship. Again, clarification can only be had with advertising agreements. notamermaid

Just like on the Rhine at Cologne, a WWII has been defused on the Danube. This one was in the river near Bogen (yes, near where that railway bridge is...) and was defused yesterday. River traffic in the area was banned for several hours. Two bombs - coincidence? Yes and no. Dredging in Cologne is quite common but there has also been some flooding relatively recently. On the Danube there has been a lot of debris and siltation from the flooding. The current of the water not only takes loose material with it but also whatever can be moved that is man-made, i.e. bombs can be relocated over the years and are then detected. In the case of this bomb at Bogen, the detection team had actually been called in by the authorities to directly help looking for unexploded ordinance during engineering work at the river. notamermaid

Hmm, I am not sure that I can say what typical water levels are in November. It varies a lot. Generally, I would say that huge flooding is untypical and at the end of November extremely low water is untypical. We have seen a wide range. It would be interesting to get an idea of what the month of November has looked like over the years, but compiling that is a lot of work for the Danube. The Danube is a bit more "temperamental" than the Rhine. I will give you an idea of the Rhine at Kaub (why Kaub I will get to in a minute). Range of levels in 2016 below the mean to just under 100cm 2017 above the mean, mean, below the mean 2018 extremely low (under 50cm) 2019 mean to below the mean 2020 below the mean to low 2021 low Trouble spots Amsterdam to Budapest: Kaub in the Rhine Gorge (shallows, hence the mention and focus above) in low water, high water no trouble spots but much water from the Upper Rhine valley can cause problems Whole Main river a few low bridges in flooding (I have no details) Bogen railway bridge (near Straubing) on the Danube in flooding Pfelling in low water Passau suspension bridge in flooding Danube bend (Esztergom) in low water The authorities issue river traffic bans in flooding. In early November from my experience the most likely problem is low water at Pfelling. Hope this helps. Viking are really successful with the ship swap system so I am sure you will have a great cruise. notamermaid

The Inn river is again receiving a lot of water from rain in the last 24 hours and will rise quite a bit. Not enough to cause trouble but it will be noticeable at Passau. The Danube itself is also rising. The current level at Passau is 621cm. It may go up to 640cm tomorrow. Probably still fine sailing under bridge but extra vigilance will be needed. notamermaid

Thank you. 😊 It is indeed raining in the East of Germany, as forecast on Wednesday. Dresden gauge is now at 109cm and will probably rise to 120cm. notamermaid

By the way, we have had a short river traffic ban again - during the defusing of a WWII bomb in Cologne. The bomb was found while dredging and put on a lighter (boat). This was then positioned away from residential areas and the bomb defused. As regards the Scottish fans - one of them stripped naked and jumped into the Rhine from the embankment. Not recommended, do not do that, too dangerous. Not because of the potential bombs but there are far too many other obstacles under water and small currents. The Rhine is such a fast-flowing river. People swim in the river much further upstream near Basel but they know where they can do that and it is relatively safe in comparison. notamermaid

As I mentioned on Wednesday, Maxau will rise again. Due to heavy rain in localized thunderstorms, quite a few of them, the river is rising already and has in the last hour or so gone back to flood vigilance at Maxau gauge. Lake Constance is forecast to rise again as well. The High Rhine and Upper Rhine will therefore partly be on flooding or flood vigilance. But most important for us is navigation generally and under bridges. Contrary to the Danube, Main and Moselle, we do not have problems with those "obstacles" on the Rhine in these conditions now and there is enough headroom for a higher level still. Only problems I know could happen is a bridge supposedly in Basel being a bit low for some docking locations. But that is something easily solved by moving ships a bit further downstream. If you know of such a manoeuvre on your cruise and would like to share the experience, that is of course much welcome. To general navigation. The forecast has been changing quite a bit in the last three days, but now we can safely say that the levels in the Upper Rhine valley will rise a lot, the level at Maxau is now 653cm and 700cm is firmly in the graph for tomorrow. So far the modelling is ruling out a river traffic ban. Navigation downstream from Worms should only be minimally impacted, i.e. possibly adjusted navigation. No flooding indicated on the Moselle. The Main will rise but it is too early to say if this will be substantially on the river itself and as of now a considerable impact for the level of the Rhine is not indicated. notamermaid

Two river cruise ships on the Main have made the headlines. First: the absolutely close call of a near bad accident. Night before last, a barge inadvertently turned itself and blocked the whole width of the river near Neustadt. A river cruise ship was approaching the barge. Luckily the captain saw the vessel blocking the river on his radar in the nick of time and did an emergency stop. The river cruise ship stopped about 20 to 30 metres before the barge. The police reported that in the case of a collision they would have expected heavy damage with many injured. 175 passengers are reportedly on board the ship. Second: a river cruise ship got stuck in the lock of Kleinostheim at Aschaffenburg. The MS Spirit of the Rhine had hit the lock gate which made it inoperable. The ship had to stay inside the lock during the whole night. This morning divers repaired the gate and the ship has since sailed on. Over 200 people are on board. In the second case I would like to slightly doubt the wording of the report, i.e. the text of the newspaper I am giving a condensed translated version of. According to marinetraffic.com the accident happened in the lock approach and the river cruise ship stopped in the few metres before the lock gate, remaining there indeed all night. The track shows the locking process in the chamber itself for this morning. The unfortunate track recorded, this is where she was waiting during the night: Not much damage sustained and all passengers fine, according to the report. notamermaid

Yes, typically Bavarian. Interesting. I looked this up and surprisingly there is a slightly different background. I guess, though, you could call them similar in that they throw the left over meat bits - the not so good stuff - together so as not to waste them. So both are German dishes in essence. Scrapple is the diminutive of scrap. There is no such type of food with that word in it in German I believe. Yet there is the word "schrapppen" which I assume is a cognate of scrap. The idea of that word is to have bits of something that you take off with a fast action from another bit, so not cutting like in "meat cuts" but cutting off or cutting into many pieces. It is not used often, though, and possibly a bit regional. The other word that the internet gives for scrapple is panhas. Now there we are with the left-over meat loaf, similar to Pfälzer Saumagen. Pannhas is actually the German word still used but not in the Palatine but more in the Ruhr region of North-Rhine Westphalia and thereabouts, i.e. that is where they cook Pannhas. And Wikipedia German explains that Pannhas came to the Pennsylvania Dutch with the Krefeld immigrants. That location of Germany makes sense: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhas notamermaid

Did you know that one of the German equivalents of using up meat stuff like in Haggis, is Pfälzer Saumagen? Different meat but the same idea. Wonder if your DH has ever been served this when in the realm, i.e. the Palatine? notamermaid

Sausages triumphed. The Scots are having a great time in Cologne today apparently - before the game. Ehrmm, is that Haggis against fondue? notamermaid

The clouds have shifted - and the amount of rain they are supposed to bring has been re-assessed - so the forecast looks better than yesterday. Lake Constance will not leave flood vigilance level but Maxau has done so for the time being. That gauge will rise again on Saturday. Flood vigilance will be back but no flooding of note. This constant high is not perfect but we can live with it for navigation. For a bit of fun: it is the European Football Cup and tonight Scotland is playing Switzerland. Today the Scottish fans took over an excursion boat in Cologne. They have had a great party on the MS RheinCargo. I am sure the captain and the owners of the boat will remember this unusual lot of passengers for quite some time. notamermaid

Good to read. Have a splendid cruise. notamermaid

An exciting time and you are busy with the packing soon, I reckon. 🙂 Water levels will rise most likely on the Rhine, but potentially on the Danube and possibly on the Elbe. There has been some uncertainty in the last two days as to where most of the rain will come down and how much. For the Elbe it now looks to be some rain today and then, day after tomorrow, heavy rain after thunderstorms. For now it is not enough to make the level rise at Dresden much. All in all, the Elbe can take the rain and going forward into next week, could certainly do with some. Hopefully some of the rain will be along the Elbe around Ústí nad Labem. That would be better in the long term than rain around Dresden. Figure at gauge now is 111cm. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

As forecast, Dresden gauge went down, but only to 102cm, and is now rising again. Rain is forecast for Saxony. notamermaid

Police report confirms that the tanker had left Niehl, sailing empty. The livery of the river cruise ship is mostly red. Other report says that it had come from Nijmegen. The ship is sailing, so all good. The bridge at Konstanz closed due to the flooding has reopened. Lake Constance is still very gradually losing centimetres on the graph. Warm temperatures with thunderstorms and partially heavy rain expected in the Rhine valley over the next three days. Please note that Maxau gauge is still officially on flood vigilance. notamermaid

Apparently there has been a collision of a river cruise ship with a tanker at Cologne Niehl during the night. Niehl is the commercial harbour of Cologne where river cruise ships occasionally dock or stay over the winter. The tanker must have come out of the harbour area and the ships hit each other head-on at kilometre 699.5. No injuries reported. Both ships have since sailed on. notamermaid

That looks quite spectacular. I can see the barrier against the pollution. I just love those bridges. I guess the lorry driver does not after this... We are having downpours and thunderstorms, quite severe, in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is coming from the West-Southwest. There are early flood warnings for some areas North of me, that is Cologne, etc., I guess that means the small rivers. I will watch that and see if anything needs to be put in the Rhine thread. Modelling suggests more rain for the Rhine valley coming. With both Lake Constance and Maxau gauge still on flood vigilance, the conditions on the Rhine are still not perfect. And I am still not happy about the high level of the Danube which as I mentioned in the threat is a bit vulnerable to sudden downpours. We are certainly having a wetter than average spring. During the storm last week an aluminium bar had come down from our roof, luckily the roofer had time this morning so the repair has already been done. I was a bit worried that tiles would come down without the bar holding things in place. Hopefully all good now. Two football matches today and then tomorrow: sausage against goulash. 😁 notamermaid

Things are going well along the Moselle as regards river levels and the maintenance of the locks has been completed (14 June). Here are a few photos of the chambers emptied of water and the work that was done: https://www.wsa-mosel-saar-lahn.wsv.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmeldungen/Webs/WSA/WSA_Mosel_Saar_Lahn/20240614_ende_schleusensperre_2024.html?nn=1719074 notamermaid

I have had a look back at the posts from the 30th of May and the following day. That was, diplomatically speaking, interesting. A couple of thoughts. It can be a different experience dealing with an office clerk on the phone and then being on the ship with very capable people who know so much more about the river itself and the situation at that moment in time and looking a couple of days into the future. Normally you all are in very good, knowledgeable, experienced, hands with crew and staff and the ship logistics. People have reported here on CC in the past (and in the last few weeks) that the lack of communication pre cruise had made them nervous, even to the point of annoyance or upset, but on the ground, i.e. on the river, things sorted themselves out. Unfortunately, rarely I would say, this is then not the case on board. I sit at a computer in my flat near the river Rhine, which I know quite well. I cannot judge intricate details on another river of course. So to complete a picture I am very grateful when passengers report from on board. I hope it helps people to then get a good idea of what river cruising, especially in situations that are [excuse term] not picture-perfect like in a catalogue, is like. As regards the more specific case of adjusting an itinerary to pass under a bridge - I cannot utter a gut feeling about a very intricate, concrete scenario from 500 kilometres away, but I will put it this way: your comment on 30 May which was quote: "I’m calling rubbish on that and we should just completely miss out Linz and get under the bridge." resonated with me at the time. Going forward, I hope and am confident that, again, river cruise companies assess, learn and improve, from this flooding situation. I would say they have from the 2018 low water situation. Unfortunately, the German Danube has this smaller range of water level in which sailing is possible and comfortable than other parts of the Danube or most other rivers. Regensburg to Passau has the trouble spot of the shallows around Pfelling. That part is now avoided by itineraries starting in Vilshofen or further downstream. The railway bridge at Bogen and the road bridge at Passau are the obstacles in high water. While Bogen can again be avoided by sailing from the ports I have mentioned, the bridge at Passau itself is an awkward problem. It appears that more ships are now using the downstream dock of Lindau or even sail from Engelhartszell, which solves that problem. I have certainly learnt something again this spring. Thank you everyone for your comments and help and reports from on board. Okay, end of monologue. Onto summer and hopefully uneventful river cruising. notamermaid

Ahh, no big deal, no upset. I for one prefer Belgian frites to French fries, those we call Pommes Frites. The British chips are something else again. Cannot eat mussles but chips on their own are fine for me. I did not try the beer in Slovakia when I was there, actually. Not long after my river cruise on the Danube I was in England, somewhere roughly in the middle of the country. At the bar in the pub serving was a Slovakian guy, we drank Peroni (Italian beer) and talked about this and that. I told him that I had been to Bratislava and found it interesting. Then he said, "Ooh, Bratislava is ugly, go to the mountains." It would be nice if I could see them some time. France won the match against Austria 1 - 0 From what I have seen and read, they were almost equally good, so 1 -1 would have been the "fairer" score. notamermaid

Thanks. Yes, we kind of had it running in two places. So for those completely surprised by weirdly dressed people in towns along the Danube: you are experiencing the European Cup, details can be found over in that thread. Things are otherwise more or less normal now on the river in the western realm. I see that the flooding is now in Romania and Bulgaria, i.e. the wave has moved far along the river. I cannot relate the figures to what is actually happening on the ground. Hopefully, things are okay. Already in Budapest the wave had lost some of its severity. notamermaid

Congratulations on the double win for your village. notamermaid